New agritourism discussion deserves full public hearing

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c.Kernel

Expanding agricultural agritourism will lead to the Gentrification of rural Yamhill County residential zones.

BAD, BAD IDEA!!!

I would rather suggest the plowing of urban soccer fields and teaching kids what they really need to learn. How and what it takes to produce their very own food, from dirt to fork.

03:03 pm - Sat, May 18 2013

c.Kernel

Perhaps an instillation of a 'hog waller' just a hop,skip and a jump somewhere between the dining room and the 18th hole at the Michelbook Country Club.

Maybe even mull over the idea of changing the name of the County seat to better match the vision of today's more modern city fathers for the future of the surrounding outlier communities.

McMartha-Stewartville might help create just the buzz you folks at the News-Register are pushing for. Fly that idea up the flagpole and see what it attracts.

10:59 am - Sun, May 19 2013

Don Dix

You know, there was a time when minors were allowed to help harvest the summer crops of the area. Labor laws nullified that prospect. Land use laws only tightened the knot.

Lamenting the lack of those experiences is one thing, but food can be grown in residential areas quite easily. Flower beds and large containers are just as effective as a garden plot or even garden acreage. Volume is the only difference.

It is foolish to use 'the bulldozer approach' when a simple shovel will accomplish the goal, but extremism seems to be the only solution for some.

07:03 am - Mon, May 20 2013

c.Kernel

Perhaps a demonstration garden located at the Evergreen campus on Three Mile Lane involving both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts might serve such a role in meeting such educational requirement?

But, I don't believe that that is actually where this is all headed than it is towards more high-end weekend retreats for the affluent velvet rope crowd. That's just my opinion, not that my opinion matters.

11:07 am - Wed, May 22 2013

Ossie Bladine

The blurring of the urban/rural divide became one of my favorite topics to discuss during my time in Vancouver, Wash. and Clark County. Talk about a place with extremism. Southwest Washington once grew a majority of the West Coast's food, only to become the prime example of why land use laws are necessary to prevent gross urban sprawl.

However, good has resulted from the crashing of the urban/rural divide there (with costs, of course). The number of community gardens in Vancouver rivals if not beats out Portland. Southwest Washington is home to dozens of Community Supported Agriculture operations, paving the way (pun intended) on small-scale agriculture.

Agri-tourism doesn't have to be all about out-of-staters rolling in limos with their checkbooks. If a balance can be struck, encouraging local urbanites to spend time on farms of various sizes can prove beneficial. I'm on the fence whether that balance is a reality in these parts, but it's worth exploring.

11:00 am - Fri, May 24 2013

c.Kernel

"If a balance can be struck, encouraging local urbanites to spend time on farms of various sizes can prove beneficial."

The roads from here to there are littered with such good intentions, and many a long time family farm or ranch driven out of business by them. And by 'them' I am referring to the high-end developers and speculators with better ideas for your rural neighborhoods.

Yep, Ossie, I can remember a few things, too. I can remember when the signpost at the edge of town read: San Jose, CA. Pop: 47,000, and if you had a job in that town it was more than likely in a cannery, both vegetable and fruit, or with a nut processor, or with one of the various meat packers, or even one of the local cheese packing companies.

Those days of the rural age will never return to Santa Clara County, it's family farms now lost forever to urbanization and it's accompanying 'best use' practices. Be careful what you advocate.